MANILA, Philippines—The Marikina City government wants its City Hall to become a “lean but mean” crew.

There will come a time when residents who want to transact at city hall can do so without leaving their houses.

With just one click of the mouse, they can apply for marriage certificates, file their taxes and submit complaints, all from the comfort of their office or living room.

The city government took a step toward this dream when it launched last week the Virtual Ordinance Library, the digitized archive of its ordinances on the Internet, for everyone to see.

Councilor Donn Carlo Favis, the official in charge of the city's Management Information System and Call Center (MISCC), said the "online incarnation" of Marikina’s laws and regulations would be a great benefit not only to residents, but also to nonresidents.

“The best city hall is where no people go,” Favis said, quoting Bayani Fernando, the city’s former mayor who now heads the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Favis said the project would have a positive impact on various aspects of city life, from the environment to the judiciary, to law enforcement and investment promotion.

In a phone interview, he explained that putting the city’s ordinances online was a logical, inevitable step for Marikina which has always been at the forefront of using information technology and the Internet to reach out to residents and in the delivery of basic services.

Last year, the city government made the city hall a Wi-fi spot. It also placed personal computers with Internet connections in barangay halls and health centers.

Way before it became a must among local governments, Marikina City Hall employees have been sending inter-department reports through e-mail and the Internet.

The Virtual Ordinance Library is a downloadable software that features a compilation of all City Council-enacted ordinances from 2001 to present. Favis said the MISCC team has been working on putting all ordinances on the site, a first in Metro Manila.

The archive is a sub-domain of Marikina City’s official web site: www.marikina.gov.ph. “All visitors have to do is type in a few key words; they instantly get a list of the ordinances that contain those key terms,” Favis said.

The first beneficiary of the project was the City Council, Favis said. According to the councilor, debates in the council usually took long because the councilors did not have a copy of previous ordinance at hand.

With the Virtual Ordinance Library, councilors would not have to take a break to check old ordinances.

By accessing the site, “the Council can readily determine which ordinances have been amended, or which ones need to be further supplemented,” he explained.

Favis said the online library would also fast track the resolution of complaints and cases even at the level of the barangay, where at least one computer would be connected to the Internet.

“Even the barangay captains can consult it. They don’t have to go to the City Hall to get a copy of an ordinance,” he said.

The initiative would also minimize the use of paper in disseminating information on an ordinance or a proposal, he added.

Mayor Marides Fernando, who was the guest of honor at the launching of the Virtual Ordinance Library last Monday, said the initiative was part of the local government’s commitment to promote transparency.

“Making the city’s ordinances open and freely available via the Internet is a concrete expression of our dedication to transparency,” she stressed.

Aside from promoting transparency, the online library will also promote participatory politics.

According to Favis, the City Council will post proposed ordinances on the site so that residents can make their comments. “They can discuss if they are in favor or not of the ordinance,” he said.

Favis’ six-man team made the site from scratch in a span of six months. The project was built at virtually no cost to the city government as the MISCC team conceptualized the project, digitized the contents and programmed the algorithm for the search engine, the hardest part of the project.

That Marikina City did it at no cost to the local government proves that the project is easier than other cities might think. The mayor, Favis noted, was surprised that the project was up and running even though she did not sign any “vouchers” for it.

Favis, however, admitted that some local governments may be reluctant to make copies of their ordinances accessible to the public.

Some cities, he said, did not want to share their proposed laws for fear that other local governments might copy it. “Sometimes, there are others who don’t want to be transparent, like refusing to divulge their budgets,” he added.